LJ, I agree with what Arel said about talking to several real estate people and getting their ideas on pricing. We did that the last time we sold and found it very helpful. We also found a very good listing agent that wasn’t the first one we talked with. We sold a house ourselves two houses ago. It ended up taking way longer to close (the buyer a was the friend of a friend) because the buyer was getting a govt subsidized loan which was very slow with paperwork.

With our last house the buyers didn’t have an agent but we did. It was worth the commission for her to move the paperwork along when things threatened to lag. She was very good. On the other hand, we used a different realtor for the house we were buying because it was in a different town. We ended up having to do a lot of follow up on our own because he wasn’t very good at moving things along. We had all of our paperwork in order but the seller was slow at having a few repairs done before closing. The realtor was good at showing houses, but not so good at paperwork and follow up. We went through a lot of unnecessary worry at getting the one we were buying to close at the same time as the other, and that should not have been necessary. Of course we were both working full time. Had one of us been not working it may have been easier to do it ourselves.

Good morning SHs, this is just a quick post before my niece arrives.

Early start as I had to get some grocery shopping done first thing.

Sybscairns, I just saw the aerial pictures of Cairns this morning. The news said that the water level is so high that Cairns is an island at the moment. Are you safe?

Cinque, so glad you had a good visit and are planning a second. Maybe your grandies can develop some of the same nice memories as your friend’s daughter has.

Cali, I will talk to a couple of agents. I have asked friends and family and have had recommendations about 2 agents. I plan to call them straight after easter so that I have an idea next week of current market value.

NFD for me and I have actually broken yesterday’s fast already with a banana. Hope you all have a good day.

HI Thinatlast & Cinque – yeh feeling better thank you :)) I had a really good FD, breezed through it, I may have had one tbspn more cottage cheese than I should have, and maybe one too many peices of brocolli, but I did do an hour training session. Amazing on a NFD how quickly I feel full. Had a naughty cake. Nothing more naughty from now on. Cinque – your reunion visit sounding very touching – its just lovely when the past meets the present and realisations of the good feelings.

Apologise if I haven’t replied to all – been away from forum for a new days. Had a very cultured weekend, attending to two theatrical works 1984 – amazing but stressful &; Far Side Of The Moon – ho hum a bit like ‘100 ways to cook mince’ I wasn’t sure of the point.

I am thinking that If (Sorry WHEN) I lose my 20kg I will reboot my acting career, been directing for the past 5yrs and kept away from treading the boards.

Ok off to Mammogram – LOL life is so glamoures. :)))

PVE, do you have a link?

Hi

Just taking a break from wrapping framed pictures in bubble wrap, ready for tomorrow. Enjoying a well earned pot of earl grey and (probably unearned easter eggs – 2 minis).

My niece spent the whole day pressure washing the concrete around my house. Most of it is very old and some is in poor condition but it all looks much better now that it’s clean. She is coming back again tomorrow to help me pack the storage pod.

Thin, I’m sorry to hear about the short term rental decision. I assume this may mean that the rental property on your street may revert to short term once these current tenants move on. Does it make you consider moving?
The storage Pod is: https://www.auspods.com.au/container-sizes/
They are basically shaped like shipping containers but smaller, with a lockable roller door. They are delivered to your driveway (similar to having a skip bin delivered) and you fill them up. You can leave them on site (eg to store your stuff while having new floors laid) or can have them moved. They will collect them when you ask and either take them into storage or to a new address. Some people use them to move house without having to hire and drive a truck.
I ordered the smallest size as I just need to store belongings that are in the road for staging the house. The pod will be collected next Tuesday and taken to storage. I’ll leave it in storage until I’m in my next house then have it delivered for unpacking. In addition to the monthly fee for hiring the POD they also charge a fee every time they move it. Cali is probably familiar with this system as it’s run by an American company and has been in operation there much longer than here.

Nancy, glad you had a good FD. I think having something tied to achieving a weight loss goal helps provide motivation, so your goal to resume an area of work that you’ve avoided is a helpful one I think. When I lost the bulk of my weight I was preparing for knee replacement surgery and that imperative really helped me focus on weight loss.

NFD today & tomorrow for me. I’ve taken a ziploc bag of tuna mornay out of the freezer. I’ve also baked a couple of whole jacket potatoes in the air fryer. I’ll split the mornay between the 2 potatoes and add some extra leftover cooked veg to make 2 meals for tonight & tomorrow.

Hi everyone
How lovely to catch up with old friends Cinque. LJoyce, that pod sounds like an excellent way to get your house ready for sale. Thin, I’m sure your DD will graduate and make an excellent vet. My B-inlaw lives on the Yarra river an hours drive out of Melbourne and has seen platypus in the river. We live near Healesville sanctuary and they have a great platypus display.
It seems there are a few actors on this group. My younger DD did acting at Uni and has been in a independent movie that’s being released in May in Melbourne. It’s called Just Between Us. Her actual paid work is as a nanny.
My NFD yesterday was terrible but today I was much better. We had a friend come for dinner and the fish and salad negated the cheesecake and wine 😉
Tomorrow we are having a couple over for dinner and OH is cooking a lamb roast. I thought with the kids all being away for the Easter break we would eat a bit simpler but OH seems to think it’s a great opportunity to socialise. He loves to cook for peoplle but it usually includes wine ( they don’t actually pour it down my throat, but you know I don’t have much ” won’t ” power.) I plan to have a FD on Friday.
This week OH is on night shift. Our dog died 2 weeks ago and the kids are all away. My son took his dog camping too so I am sleeping at home totally alone for the first time since I don’t know when. I’ll have to get used to it as he’s on NS until Sunday
Have a great night/day xx

Cinque, so nice that you had a good visit with old friends and are planning future get togethers. It’s always fun to talk about old times and about what has been happening since.

Minka, you’re in California! It sounds like you’re down around the So. Calif beaches. You should be getting some good weather down there this week. Spring seems to finally be coming. Are you going to be visiting the Bay Area or anywhere north of Monterey? I’m a couple hours from there. It would be fun to meet up for a cup of coffee or lunch if you can spare the time. I could drive to meet you. US sizes do seem to run smaller than Aus. I figure my size 4/6 jeans would probably be a 10 in Aus, judging from what people who are similar in height and weight have talked about on the forum. I think companies here have lowered the sizes over the years because I think I used to wear a size 8 or 10 when I was in my 20’s and a lower weight than I am now. Maybe it was because people gained so much weight in general that they could sell more clothes if they downsized them!

LJ, we do have those pods here although I’ve never used one. They seem like a good idea though for storing excess furniture and boxes while your house is on the market. And an easy way to move it to your new place.

Thin, sorry to hear that your council still approved the short stay rental thing. Mandatory voting would be a good thing in a case like this because if it’s anything like here, it would be the only way to get enough people to vote to get them out. Here most people aren’t very aware of local representatives unless they’ve done something really bad. Did DD take pictures of the platypuses? They’re such exotic and funny looking animals.

Stay, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve lost your dog. It’s so hard to lose a pet because they’re so dependent on us and so much a part of our lives. Hugs to you.

Good morning,
Fast day for me,
I hope I am not speaking to soon, but I am back into a nice rhythm with fast days, where I really enjoy them with my whole body. Still a bit irritable and lacking concentration in the afternoons, but able to embrace it! Anyway, I am touching wood and whistling in the hope that they were not famous last words. It is only 8am after all 😉

Thin, a pity about the ‘short stay rentals’ decision, I expect the problem is worst in large houses as they are perfect as party houses, we hardly noticed the people in the next door flats. But it is something that works against the feeling of community…. along with almost everything else that happens these days.

Stay, hello, I hope you enjoyed sweet solitude last night, but I know homes can feel so empty when a dear pet has died.

Very cool to hear of your DD doing some acting. And Thin’s brother. I have a niece who does some acting and also art direction, AND the old friend I caught up with on Tuesday worked as stills photographer on movies and tv series.

But Nancy, you can be a ‘claim to fame’ for us all. Such a pity the shows you saw weren’t a bit more wonderful, but still, a cultured weekend is fun. I was thinking that if you wait to lose weight, you will miss out on all the roles for overweight women, but then I remembered how much easier it would all be for you if you are not carrying around extra kilos.
At least directing you are sitting in a chair with your megaphone. (Just joking 😉 ).
Hope your mammagram was straightforward. I had one last week and the nurse asked if I had lost weight! It was because it has made me softer all over and liable to get a fold of skin in the way of the machine. They never told me that when I started 5:2!

Woohoo Minka, another jetsetter! So good to hear of the wonderful time you are having with family and friends and shopping! Your new clothes sound absolutely gorgeous, and you seem to be managing 5:2 in restaurants with panache! Keep being wonderful!

So true with clothes sizes. When I was young, size 4 would fit a 4 year old.

Sybs, are you able to take your gumboots off yet?

I’m off to have another cup of tea, and I think I will make a big jug of herbal tea to drink through the day. Ooh and must soak yuba and mushrooms for my evening soup!

Cheers to you all, and best wishes.

Minka, I loved what you wrote. For life! Well done for all you’ve achieved and the choices you’re making now. And the fine example you’re setting everyone else around you. You’re in a beautiful part of California, I hope the wedding is fabulous. Try not to outdo the bride. That would be fun to meet up with CalifD but I can see it would be tricky trying to squeeze new options into a tight itinerary. If you two do decide to try and hook up, I can send you both each others’ email addresses to save your having to display them here.

CalifD, I think that’s why voting was originally made compulsory in Australia – low population and low interest. But having worked at the electorate, I know it’s not enforceable. You can force people to the polls by fining them for non-attendance but you can’t make them vote properly once in the booth. Counting is still done by hand believe it or not and vote counters have to endure lots of interesting drawings of genitalia and some very bad words. It forces people to vote when they have no clear of the issues (you can get help in about 50 languages – how can a person comprehend the issues facing our country if they can’t speak English?) so people tend to vote for the party putting the most money in their back pocket rather than what’s best for the country. And finally, how is it democratic to force people to vote? End of rant.

Hurray Cinque for being fully back in the 5:2 groove. Do let us know when you’ve received the follow up results.

Have fun with that POD LJ – will it and its contents will go straight to your new home?

What has happened to Penguin?

I’ll leave you with a couple of images from the platypus hunt in Tasmania. They managed to capture and examine nine before their swift release. It’s all highly controlled of course and the nets are checked hourly throughout the night so as to have the least impact on the critters.
https://imgur.com/FzCdHdj
https://imgur.com/Kskfzry

Nancy, my brother lives near Brighton, where I’m also from. He was a death eater in HP IV! Funny if he met your niece but unlikely as it was such a massive production. He said it was incredible how they could create such amazing stage sets in no time. My brother’s just today sent me a demo of voice overs he’s made as he’s going to try and get extra work doing that. He also plays and sings in a band. I have none of that talent. But he can’t dance – I got that gene as I had first choice.

I’ll leave it to others to give better advice on the 3rd FD as I’ve never deviated from 5:2 and 6:1. From reading others’ comments, I get the impression it makes little difference. My own take would be that it detracts from the sustainability of the WOL. Take your time losing that 20kgs because, once you reach your goal, you have the boring business of maintenance to contend with. All the best with whatever you decide.

I seem to have hit the wall this afternoon. I have not a scrap of energy left.
I’m looking forward to a short sleep in tomorrow, rather than starting on the house at 6:30 as I have for the last few days.
The storage POD arrived at 8am and my niece at 9. Because I had worked late last night on getting all contents taped, bubble wrapped and lined up in loading order, packing the POD was really easy for two of us to do. We had the POD completely packed by 10:30am. Although I’ve packed everything in tightly and completely covered the 2.1m2 floor area, the contents only come up to about 1m, so I’m using less than half the available space.

We then set to work cleaning the spare bedroom (where most of the POD contents had been stored) and then tried to put together the new Ikea queen bed. After three hours we only just got the bed frame constructed. Haven’t even opened the bed slats boxes yet – I’ll have to try and put them together myself over the weekend – looking forward to that – NOT. 😥

With a concerted effort over the weekend and some more help from family I hope to have the house completely ready by the end of Tuesday. The garden will probably still require weeding and mulching, but I’m OK leaving that until last.
I have an appointment for a real estate agent to view and value the property on Tuesday afternoon and I plan to call another agent Tuesday morning, so will hopefully have two valuations within a week.

Thin, you’ve had a busy posting day I see. The POD is being collected at 8am Tuesday and going into storage until I move house.
Thanks for the photos, I suspect your daughter is thoroughly enjoying this work placement – it looks like so much fun.
I was also wondering about Penguin – I hope he didn’t bring another lurgy back from Portugal.
Very nice poem – made me a bit teary and I haven’t lost a pet in ages.

Nancy, I mostly do 2 FDs per week, unless I think the extra calories on my NFDs are going to be a bit high in any particular week. For example I did 3 FDs per week over December and still only just managed to keep my weight stable. I’m doing three this week because of the easter buns and chocolate that are already creeping into my NFDs and I have more family eating events over the weekend. If you think your NFDs will have higher than normal calories then a third NFD is a sensible way to balance the extra indulgence. I don’t think it’s a good long term strategy if you have any tendency toward binge eating as increased deprivation seems to encourage binge behaviour. However as an occasional strategy I think it’s helpful to have another option up your sleeve to still participate in normal life but keep your weight moving in the direction you want.

Cinque, good to hear that you are finally back into a normal fasting routine. It’s been a bit of a journey since you had your surgery. Enjoy your your FD miso soup.
Glad you had some nice op shop finds. If you see and jeans with a small waist and wide legs please send them my way, I’m having no luck over here.

NFD for me and I have tuna mornay & veg left over from last night that just requires microwaving. Good thing too, as I don’t have the energy to contemplate anything more energetic than pressing a button tonight. I’m fasting tomorrow and hopefully again easter Monday.

Hope you all have some nice plans for easter.

Oops, error in my previous post should have read, ‘no clear understanding of the issues’, sorry about that. Cinque, aren’t we lucky to live in a country where we can still express different opinions? Although, I do rather feel that’s becoming less and less so. It sounds like you’ve had a great day op shopping. I have just realised that I forgot to watch, ‘The Diet Testers’ that you previously told us about – featuring the LD Diet. I must look for it tonight.

LJ, I had to laugh at stacking the POD in record time only to struggle with the IKEA assembly for the rest of the morning and beyond. How lovely that you have family to help you. Good points about the extra fasting days. I expect nothing to change wrt my diet over Easter. Certainly no HCBs and I doubt I’ll have any chocolate. I still hide easter eggs for DD even though she is 22.

I have made a large pot of chilli con carne. No prizes for cooking the healthiest meal amongst us tonight I suspect but I really felt like it. No sour cream or bread for me though.

Hi everyone
Enjoying reading all your interesting posts. Can’t answer each one just now.

LJoyce – for our last 4 house sales/purchases, we have used a Conveyancer, not a Solicitor – is a whole lot cheaper and has worked well on each occasion. All the best for next Tuesday.

My Dad is home from the nursing home till Saturday lunch time – love having him around. He’s very precious to me. Hopefully he can be here on a regular basis – health permitting!

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter filled with many happy moments – enjoy the extra long weekend, and bye for now!

Good morning on good friday SHs,

I was awake at sunrise but didn’t emerge from my bed until 8:30. I was in a lot of pain last night and it took a couple of rounds of pain killers to get to sleep. I still have a lot of stiff and sore joints this morning but as you can see my finger joints have loosened up enough for me to type. I decided to take the morning off from the house and do some normal chores. I tried to put a load of washing on earlier, but my fingers wouldn’t bend enough to squeeze the spray on the preen – I had to resort to taking the top off and pouring the liquid onto the stains. Thankfully when my joints are like this they just need a little time to loosen up enough to function properly. Normally they are fine by the time I’ve showered and dressed but some days it takes a few hours.

Cinque, Thanks for the link, it’s an interesting article. I was actually pleased to see 5:2 referred to as an intermittent energy restriction diet, rather than fasting. I find that most people have such a fixed idea of what fasting is that it’s confusing for them if I try to explain what I’m doing and call it fasting.
If Thin doesn’t come through with a good chilli con carne recipe I can give you one from a very battered 1970s American cookbook that I only keep for the chilli recipes.
Enjoy the Wolton pie. My family didn’t have any good friday food traditions – probably the Methodist influence.

Arel, I hope you have a lovely easter with your dad. I agree – the time you have with him is precious and the memories of these times will be important long into the future.
I also agree that conveyancers are a much more economical choice – they are the norm in S.A. I think each state has different laws around this, but luckily we are able to use a conveyancer here.

Thin, I haven’t watched last night’s Diet Testers yet, but did record it. Hopefully I’ll get to it over easter.

I’m fasting today. I have some diced chicken and a bag of mixed asian veg in the freezer. I’ll combine these with some konjac noodles to make a large stir fry. It should be enough for two FD dinners. I’m planning to fast again on easter monday.

Have a nice day.

Hi everyone! Good to see so many posts. Nancy, I agree with what the others have said about a 3rd FD. I only have done it very occasionally, usually to get off a long plateau when nothing else seems to work. That did. But I worry about slowing down my metabolism with a 3rd day, even though most think that would not happen. I’m not convinced. I sometimes think that eating a lot on NFDs helps to speed it up. Since I rarely count calories on NFDs, I couldn’t say for sure, but it seems like I eat quite a bit above my TDEE. Maybe it all evens out with the FDs. All I know is that the 5:2 works very well for me. I have never missed a FD since I started last May. That probably helps.

Thin, your poem about the dog brought tears to my eyes. We have been there too many times over the years with pets. It’s sad that they don’t live longer lives. It’s devastating to lose them. Not having children, I can’t imagine how sad I would be when a son or daughter leaves home to go out on their own, especially if they moved a long distance away. After all that caring for them and worry, then to see them go. How do you deal with it? I suppose “unselfishly” is the answer.

Arel, so it’s so nice that your dad is well enough to spend time at your home for a couple days. They must be taking good care of him.

LJoyce, I’m not surprised you hit a wall on energy with all that you’re doing with your house. It’s become a full time job! More than full time some days, from what you tell us. You deserve a sleep in. 😴 It’s probably not just the work anymore but also the stress that normally goes with moving house and selling one. Changing the place called home can be very stressful, even though it’s fun and exciting as well.

Cinque, glad you had a successful op shopping day. I did that last weekend. After not going in those shops for years, you gave me the bug! I’m totally addicted now and finding some really nice things in small sizes. Sometimes I take donations in one door and take things I’ve purchased out of the other. 😁 Luckliy, thin’s influence on clearing out unused stuff is starting to rub off on me. It just needs to rub off a little faster! 😁

LJoyce, I agree about being almost always being able to find things at the thrift stores. Being a small financial risk is a big part of it. But I tend to like classic styles and have to really push myself to purchase anything new and trendy. People get rid of their older, classic clothes to buy trendy stuff, so there’s lots of that at the op shops. My tastes are so boring. 😗

I just went over to the one near here and found a very nice denim jacket, kind of a classic design with a few different cuts. The problem with denim jackets for me is that I never can think of what to wear them with. But the one I bought looks almost like someone had it dry cleaned, it is so nicely pressed. (And only $6!) So I did a Google search on “what to wear with a denim jacket” and came up with this site which has lots of good ideas: http://www.gurl.com/2014/04/12/20-style-tips-on-how-to-wear-a-denim-jean-jacket/ The jacket I bought is most like the J. Crew one in one of the pictures, about that color. Many of them are too young looking for a woman in her late 60’s, but there are definitely a few keepers. I would never have thought to pair it with a sequined skirt or with a plain long maxi dress,

Where’s penguin?

Hi Calif,
I was probably typing when you posted- I’m so slow haha. I also wear pretty boring clothes and do love denim. Thanks for the link, it’s given me a few ideas too. 🙂

Stay, when you are used to having a pet around it’s a hard adjustment to them not being there. I haven’t had a pet for several years and it took a few months to adjust to that. I also worry about what happens when I’m away.

Cali, I like denim jackets, but not teamed with jeans. I like them best with dresses, especially pretty floral or lacy dresses. I think it’s contrast of the denim with something so feminine that seems to work. I have looked for them occasionally but haven’t found one I like yet.

I just looked through all the cupboards to see if there was anything else I wanted to pack up and put in the storage pod. I’ve filled 2 more small boxes and a lot of my built-ins are looking very empty now.
Time to tackle that bed again. I have put on some “working” music (dance/techno) and opened the remaining Ikea boxes and read the instructions. Hopefully the the slat frame for the mattress will be a little easier than the bed frame was. Time to tackle it.

CalifD, I loved that dog’s Will. Brilliant. My DD will love it too. Her other big passion is photography. She received a distinction, coming second In the yr 12 WA state exams for Design: Photography with the attached entries. The actors were our neighbours’ dog, Sally, and my elderly neighbour’s cat, Panta. One became a billboard, the other an ad in a magazine. It took a lot of work to get Sally to just sit there because every time DD stepped back to take the shot, Sally would come running over to her, tail wagging, sending all the props flying! Both are sadly departed now. I hope you like them.

https://imgur.com/esYr4xA
https://imgur.com/ZNnVx4a
https://imgur.com/6UTYDfA

Stay, it’s good to cry. We cried for a solid week when our dingo died.

Hi Thin – I have not heard from JJulie since early March when I went to Bali. I think Julie went to Singapore and other parts of SEA a couple of weeks ago. I am sure we’ll see her again when she gets a spare moment

LJ, I’ve been considering doing something like that for quite a while – boxing up the things that OH absolutely can’t live without and stacking them neatly in the garage or shed. I’ve even got the boxes in readiness. I’d also realised that the house would show better without 23 years’ worth of clutter. We’re a long way away from all that but it hasn’t stopped me from planning and scheming!

Thanks for your kind comments about DD’s project! The billboard (and magazine ad for the cat) comprised the design element of her subject.

So, what’s the result on your scales? On the subject of scales, mine gave a warning message ‘Lo’ this morning. I was pretty sure it meant that the batteries were going dead. But perhaps they were telling me that my weight was ‘Lo’. This is the day after the day after a FD and I’m down to 58.7kgs. My all time low since starting this WOL was 58.5kg walking up to 15kms a day in hilly Spain.

So I had to resort to getting another piece of OH’s birthday cake out of the freezer! He was happy with that decision. It turns out he’s leaving in the early hours, about 6 hours after DD returns tonight so they will be able to exchange a brief hug at least. Never in my wildest dreams when I started 5:2 at 83kgs did I ever think I would be in a position of believing my weight was getting a bit ‘Lo’. Keep strong losers! This WOL is amazing.

Of course I don’t mind, Sybs. I started 5:2 in August 2014. Just looking over my records, I remember now that I had already lost a measly 5kgs that year on my standard starvation diet (deprivation of everything). So, in fact I only lost 17kgs on 5:2 when, in August 2015, I decided to call it ‘maintenance’ at 61kg following quite a long plateau. How are you getting on?

Thin, my weight without the framed pictures was 73.2kg. That means I’ve maintained rather than lost over the last week. Given the 3 easter buns and the chocolate that I’ve eaten over that week, I’m happy with that result. I’m hoping today’s FD gets me a bit ahead as Sunday will probably be damaging. Enjoy easter with your daughter – is she heading back to Tassie afterward?

Sybs, I sometimes get a FD headache. I find a piece of fruit will sometimes help (an apple or a small banana or a punnet of berries). Not sure if it’s just having a little food in my stomach or the sugars in the fruit that help. When this happens to me it’s usually mid-afternoon and all I’ve consumed is water and cups of tea.

Good morning SHs

I had a very rare early breakfast. A pot of tea, wholemeal toast and 2 boiled eggs at 6am. I normally try not to be awake at that hour, but I woke at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up and did some more work cleaning and some garden watering (by torchlight). I enjoyed every mouthfull of my breakfast, which is also unusual for me.
I will need to head out to the shops shortly. Now that I’ve weighed all the pictures I have to buy the appropriate hooks to hang them. Some grocery shopping is also in order as the fridge is looking extremely empty and there is just one lonely apple in my usually full fruit bowl.

Thin, it sounds like your daughter has a lot of varied and valuable work experience lined up. I suspect she will really enjoy the fortnight at the zoo, working with animals she couldn’t treat anywhere else. Before we married, my ex-husband shared a house with one of the Adelaide Zoo vets. Although it was definitely against the rules, he sometimes took home baby animals that required through the night care, to avoid staying at the zoo all night. My ex said he never knew what he was going to be confronted with when he opened the front door. I seem to remember that a baby otter and wolf cub were among the menagerie that had overnight care in their house.

Might have another cup of tea now while I construct a shopping list.

Thin, I love your Dd’s Photos! I can’t even imagine getting that dog to sit there like that with all the props in place. How cool to have the photo featured on a billboard and the other, of the cat, in an ad. She is very talented! I loved the photo of the platypus. They are such cool looking animals, so strange, but cute. I can’t even imagine seeing one in real life. I will definitely have to plan a trip some day in the future.

Thin, congrats on reaching a new low weight. That has to be making your day. You should celebrate by buying some denim! Skinny jeans! 😁 👖

LJoyce, congrats on finishing your bed assembly. I’ve put many IKEA things together, but never a bed from there. I’ve put other beds together with OH over the years though. They’ve never been particularly easy, mostly because of the size. Hopefully it can be moved intact when the time comes. Ironing sheets! I’m impressed! I haven’t ironed a sheet in many years. We have fleece (not flannel, but fleece) in the winter that are warm and super soft. Lately, in the summer we’ve used microfiber sheets because they’re so smooth and soft and never have to be ironed. But there is nothing like the looks and coolness of linen sheets.

Sybs, I often have headaches on FD too. They aren’t bad ones, but still annoying. If lots of water doesn’t help, maybe a little more salt? I don’t really know how to eliminate them. Sometimes I get them, sometimes not. Taking a pain med if they bother me is the only thing I know. Maybe one of us will come up with some other cure. Thin, you’re lucky not to get them. You said you sleep better on FD too. I’m much more likely to feel wide awake at night on FD.

New posts while I was still composing mine. Arel, congrats on your weight loss for the month! You must feel so good. And April is a month of opportunity for even more loss. I agree about our friends here making us accountable. It’s great to be able to share all the ups and downs of the 5:2.

LJ, you’re up for breakfast early! Have a good time shopping today. Hope you find at least one fun thing to purchase.